College campuses are on track to see roughly as many antisemitic incidents this academic year as last year, in which Hillel International tracked 1,854 incidents, a 700% increase from the 2022-2023 academic year, the organization announced during its Global Assembly last week.

According to Hillel, at least 864 antisemitic incidents have been recorded on college campuses as of mid-December — roughly halfway through the academic year. These included a physical assault of a Jewish student outside of Columbia University and antisemitic graffiti on the San Francisco Hillel building. 

More than 1,000 Hillel International professionals gathered in Boston last Monday through Thursday for the 10th annual Hillel International Global Assembly, which largely — but not solely — focused on campus antisemitism and the general “climate” that Jewish students are encountering.

“Several sessions addressed the ongoing campus climate challenges facing Jewish students,” Adam Lehman, president and CEO of Hillel, told eJewishPhilanthropy after the gathering. “By virtue of our work and the work of others, we’ve seen real change in terms of how university administrations respond to harassment and discrimination towards Jewish students, but those issues continue.”  

He added: “We discussed how to supplement our programs like the Campus Climate Initiative [which launched in 2020 to address antisemitism on more than 50 college campuses], that are improving the way administrations address policy and practice with further interventions that will strengthen bridge building with other communities on campus [and] will address faculty bias against Jewish students.”

Conversations at the conference also centered around the incoming Trump administration, which has threatened to cut federal support and accreditation to universities that do not combat campus antisemitism. 

“We do expect the incoming administration to support our efforts and the efforts of others to ensure that administrations are complying with Title VI and other legal requirements,” Lehman said. “With that we expect that universities will be more accountable for meeting those requirements. Whether that translates into actual loss of major federal funding or simply increased recognition of how real that possibility is for universities, it’s impossible to know.”

But Lehman added that from his own conversations with university leaders, “they are taking seriously the need to protect the basic rights of Jewish students.” 

Sessions at HIGA featured Hillel professionals as well as outside Jewish leaders; these  included: “Using Legal Tools to Combat Antisemitism and Strengthen Campus Climate,” led by Mark Rotenberg, senior vice president and general counsel of Hillel International and Arnold & Porter attorney Baruch Weiss, and “Building Belonging Through Spiritual Leadership,” led by Rabbi Rebecca Blady from Hillel Germany, Rabbi Gil Steinlauf from Princeton Hillel and Rabbi Jessica Lott from Northwestern Hillel.

During the conference, the organization also presented awards to individual Hillel officials and campuses for excellence in different fields. Florida universities nearly swept the innovation category, with schools from the Sunshine State taking eight of the awards. (The Hillels at Northeastern University, Yale University and New York University won the other three.) The Ohio State University Hillel won the organization’s 2024 Award for its “Restorative Justice Sessions” program. The annual award is selected by a popular vote to recognize a program that “has responded to a timely need for the community.”

Though anti-Israel protests on campuses are overall down by more than two-thirds so far this academic year, Hillel, the largest Jewish campus organization, has become one of the most frequent targets of anti-Israel activists and other antisemites in recent months. 

This was another new campus challenge discussed at HIGA — and even experienced firsthand as a small group of demonstrators protested at the conference. “Sadly the anti-Israel movement has adopted targeting core Jewish life organizations, like Hillel, with protests or campaigns to demonize and marginalize our campus Hillels,” Lehman said, adding that Hillel professionals “remain confident” in the response to these demonstrations. “We have already seen universities immediately respond with recognition of the basic discrimination of attacks directed at Hillel.”

“Even as we get attacked for absurd claims like being a white supremacist or racist organization… or being responsible for the government of Israel,” Lehman continued, “Hillels are leading the way in terms of bridge building with a number of other communities on campus.”